Sereniti
Heidi Li FeldmanImportant: U.S. eligible voters, check your registration. Some states have early deadlines for registering to vote. Other states are aggressively purging their voter rolls, so even if you think you are registered, do check to make sure. More information available at https://wapo.st/3Zon0Ox.
Frank Bennett 🇯🇵@heidilifeldman The link requires a WaPo account.
Flip them all@fgbjr @heidilifeldman Come on @washingtonpost! You need to open up access to these critical articles to everybody. Our democracy is far more important than a few cents difference to your bottom line!
AndyW
Beeks@fgbjr I know, but the story is then free to read.
@heidilifeldman Someone kindly posted a gift link. It's all good.
Simon ZerafaProbably best to check regularly, perhaps weekly.
Set a reminder to do so especially if any MAGA types are in charge of voter registration processes.
RolingMetal@heidilifeldman Why isn't every citizen automatically registered in the USA.
Or is this too difficult to for the greatest country in the world?
Or is this too difficult to for the greatest country in the world?
Lea@uberprutser
Basically, it's because the US is made up of 50 semi-independent states, and only residents of each state can vote in that state so they have to maintain their own voter rolls. So that makes things complicated.
Some states do automatically register people in certain circumstances, such as when they get a driver's license or interact with some other State agency, but the person can opt out of that (registering to vote is not mandatory).
Of course people are always moving between states too. It's your responsibility to contact the government of your new state to get registered there if you want to vote, since they wouldn't automatically know.
Shoq 🌿@leadore @uberprutser @heidilifeldman Republicans have spent decades trying to shut down such Automatic Voter Registration programs (AVRs). Only about half the states still have them.
https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/automatic-voter-registration
https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/automatic-voter-registration
Ron Parsons@leadore @uberprutser @heidilifeldman
And in most (all?) states, voter registration is done at the county level, although the state may be responsible for the record keeping.
It can be fairly easy or extremely difficult to register depending on how your state regulates the process.
The states are supposed to maintain accurate voter rolls and that opens things up for abuse. Some states have purged voters off the rolls prior to elections and voters only find out when they try to vote.
ftl@leadore @uberprutser @heidilifeldman That's the mechanism. The underlying reason is racism - the myriad obstacles to voting stay put instead of being fixed because they're bigger obstacles for minorities, and thus white supremacists find it beneficial to keep all the obstacles in place instead of fixing them.
Moz@uberprutser @heidilifeldman it's slightly complex because there's multiple layers of systems that vary between states. There's no federal department of running elections, or even a national register of residential addresses, let alone a single set of requirements to be eligible to vote. There's not even a legal right to vote. So you get a carefully constructed confusopoly to discourage voting.
cf Australia, which does it the other way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_registration_in_Australia#Voter_registration_procedures
Chuck DarwinAre You Registered to Vote?
This will take 30 seconds
xs4me2Nasty games that should be stopped for once and for all. Simply undemocratic.
Grassroots JoeFolks can just go to https://vote.gov and pick your state to get started.
Vote.gov will take you to your state's voter registration web site which you can then bookmark to save an extra step or 2.
BassRck5000@heidilifeldman
I'm registered in PA.
been voting in MY county for 12 yrs, now.
This year they have no data of ME, for mail-in ballot, annual mail-in voter since 2018, NO EXPLANATION from county board!
Next call to Gov. Shapiro!
I'm registered in PA.
been voting in MY county for 12 yrs, now.
This year they have no data of ME, for mail-in ballot, annual mail-in voter since 2018, NO EXPLANATION from county board!
Next call to Gov. Shapiro!
Pamela Barroway – Biz Editor@heidilifeldman Check registration at https://www.vote.org.
